Page 45 of For the Love of City

“Ain’t nothing wrong with being on the block or hanging out or being with your niggas.

But when your niggas ready to be stupid you gotta remove yourself.

And some of them ain’t gone like that. I’mma keep that shit real.

But somebody that’s really about you ain’t gone let you fuck this opportunity up.

But the people who really down for you, your set, gang, whatever will protect your name and your brand because they care about you and want more for you.

They not gone be on no crabs in the barrel type shit.

They more than happy to help you up because they know when you elevate you not going to have a problem lifting them up with you.

This big nigga right here did that shit for me no questions asked.

He took a charge and never folded and so you damn right when he got out he was set.

And he returned the favor with this music shit.

” Trav had been in the thick of shit consistently so he had more weight in this situation.

“Anybody who ain’t moving like that, let them fall to the wayside. ”

“I feel you. And I appreciate y’all coming to check me out. Bringing me out here and shit. It’s been good to not have to worry about…shit anything or anybody for a minute.”

The kid smiled for the first time and I was thankful that we’d been able to give him a minute to breathe.

Life in the trenches could get overwhelming, especially if you couldn’t get a break from the people you surrounded yourself with.

I’d gotten lucky because I’d jumped into the game with Trav and he never folded.

We were going to have each other’s backs no matter what came our way. And it had been proven time and again.

“Ain’t shit. But remember that everybody ain’t gone be for you.”

I looked at Travis curiously because he was hammering that point home. I wasn’t sure if it was because of what went down with Lyric or if he knew more about this man’s life than he was letting on.

“It’s hard to hear but harder to experience. We’d rather teach you that than have you live it. The people closest to you sometimes they only close to you so they can twist that knife in your back.”

He was watching me thoughtfully while I spoke and then he revealed something that might be a problem for him. “My best friend and my girl ain’t really tight with each other.”

Me and Travis traded a look again before he spoke up. “And why is that?”

He laughed but I could tell that it wasn’t something he felt was really humorous. “They say the other ain’t really right for me.”

“You trust your gut. Don’t blind yourself to their bullshit but peep shit for what it is. Don’t let love or loyalty have you looking out for other people before yourself.” I laid out that advice and knew that the ball was in his court.

“So what you think? We can start with getting your mixtape mastered, see how that goes and move from there when you ready…”

He looked at Trav and I saw he had shrunk back again. “How much is this gone run me? Y’all not doing shit for free.”

“We asked you for anything yet?”

He shook his head at me and I wasn’t going to let up because he needed to understand how shit really moved with us. “Nah, but—”

Trav motioned between the two of us before he spoke up again. “We hunted you down, right?”

A quick nod but the apprehension at the question was still there.

“Yeah.”

“And said we wanted you to be our artist, right?”

Again he nodded at Trav’s question but this time with less reluctance.

“Yeah.”

“Could’ve sworn I told your ass we were different.

You must not be listening. Ain’t no upfront money you gotta pay.

We not too proud to spend money to earn it.

We trying to give niggas an opportunity however that looks.

And yeah, we went to be profitable, but it won’t be on the backs of our people.

Have y’all walking around broke and slaving to make rent.

You really must not have heard of us.” Travis was irritated again and I knew he felt as though our integrity was being put into question.

I switched gears so that they both could cool off. “How much you make in a year?”

He smirked slightly, and an arrogant look crossed his face. “Legally or—”

I knocked my knuckles on the table cause I wasn’t going to play games with his ass.

“Give us a number. I don’t give a fuck. We trying to help you eat.”

“About fifty when it’s all said and done.

” I had to set my CEO hat to the side for a second because there shouldn’t be any nigga on the block, let alone one that was also working a legit job, that was only making fifty.

Whoever we handed this shit off to was gone have a few areas they could spread out to if them niggas from Vine were getting starved like that.

“Cool. We gone hand you a fifty thousand dollar signing bonus and a fifty thousand dollar advance.”

“That’s a hundred thousand dollars.” He was looking at the two of us like our asses couldn’t add.

I brushed off his surprise and just focused on putting in the work with this man.That would demonstrate to him the people we were more than anything.

“Yeah. You need to make sure your mind is right to do this work and get this shit the way you want it to. You need to pay your rent up? Do it. Need a car, get some shit that’s reliable.

Be smart cause a hundred grand spends quick. ”

“We’ll spot you studio time for twelve tracks. Everything else is on you. Split that shit up between projects or whatever but make it count.” Travis threw out the rest of the deal so that he could understand that we wanted to work with him.

“We ain’t the type to just be throwing money at a nigga but we see you and what you’re about to be. You do your thing so giving you this bread ain’t shit.”

“Trav might be the person who discovered you but reach out to us about anything. Well, maybe not Ness, her nigga might have a problem. Send her ass a work email.”

Trav popped me in the chest with the back of his hand to get my attention. “Aye, you know that track she was shelving cause she ain’t had nobody to rap with her.”

I started smiling because I knew this was the easiest way to show this man how we really got down. “Damn, you right. Aye, you think you can handle getting in the studio soon?” I looked at Royce cause I wanted to see how he was going to work.

“You mean rapping with Finesse ? Like being featured on her shit?” He looked shocked that we were going to do something so fast.

“Yeah what you think it means being on the label? Ain’t no hierarchy. We might own this shit but we will always put in work and help each other out. Keeping you small don’t do shit for us, bruh.”

Trav already had his phone out as he spoke and Lyric’s voice was on the line before Royce could respond.

“‘Ness we got somebody here we think would work well with you on Drip .”

“Oh shit! Finally. Who is it cause I was really about to bribe G to rap that shit.” She sounded excited about getting into the studio to work on this song.

Thinking about G with her on a track had me ready to shelve all this shit. “Last thing I want to hear is that nigga on another album with you.”

“WHATEVER! Who is it y’all got?”

Lyric knew that we wouldn’t bring somebody to her that was on some bullshit so her excitement was for a reason.

“Nigga so new he don’t even have a stage name yet.” Travis was laughing but that was something we would need to change quick.

“We can do this whenever. Is he ready to work?”

“Just like that?” Lyric didn’t know we had him in the room with us but I knew she wouldn’t mind him hearing her reaction.

“Yeah, when I’m ready to work it ain’t time to play. Can you handle that?” This was her baby even if she had made us all equal partners in this. Combined with him being on the song with her she wasn’t going to play around with her music.

He was nodding and I could see his excitement grow. “Yeah it’s no problem. I’m ready.”

“Cool. My schedule gone be in and out the next couple of months because of the season. I need to get a summer banger on the charts right now. Folks trying to act like Ness ain’t still here.

And it’ll be good exposure for whatever it is you trying to do moving into the fall and the new year.

” Lyric laid out the thought process for getting him in the studio quickly.

He was going to see that Lyric’s ass was the real taskmaster when it came to her music.

Her part was done. All he needed to do was bring the same lyricism to his bars and it could get released.

“As soon as it plays and streams you get paid. Residual income and shit.”

“That’s right. Hit me with the dates, C. Trav, I got somebody else for you to check out. But I’m out.” She hung up the phone not bothering to wait on anyone else.

He’d been able to catch a glimpse of the whirlwind that Lyric could be and he looked mildly stunned. “So what you think? You in?”

His face broke into a grin, and he nodded with new conviction. “Hell yeah, what I need to sign?”

Travis pulled out the tablet that held the contract. It would double as a way for us to communicate with him and give him the ability to keep his lyrics electronic so he didn’t lose them.

“It’s the twenty-first century, bruh. Get you a lawyer and start looking this shit over. Review it, have them explain what’s in it to you and then get it back to us. We can cut you a feature contract right now, though.”

His smile showed that we finally might be on the right track with this label. “I’m all in.”

Trav grinned and he stood up to shake Royce’s hand. “Good. Welcome to Lyrically Sound .”